Diablo traveled through time and became a necromancer

The morning light completely dispelled the mist from Kurast Harbor, transforming the lingering warmth of last night's bustle into the scorching heat of daylight. Wu Ye, Leah, and Vera stood before the massive wooden gates on the west side of the harbor. Behind them lay the bustling sounds of Kurast and the surging sea, while before them lay the silent, damp earth, crouching like a giant beast.

The heavy wooden gate slowly rose amid the groaning sound of the winch, and a hot wave mixed with rotten plants, damp soil and some indescribable sweet and fishy smell came towards them, instantly enveloping the three of them.

"Wow..." Leah subconsciously took a step back and fanned herself with her hands, "This smell... is even more pungent than Aunt Martha's pickled fish!" She tightened the straps of her backpack, which contained the newly bought luminous scales, feather bracelet, and the all-important diary of old Jack.

Vera adjusted the javelin bag to the most comfortable position, and her sharp eyes swept across the front. The tangled vines of the towering ancient trees formed a natural green barrier. The sunlight struggled to penetrate the dense canopy, casting strange mottled shadows on the moss and fern-covered ground.

The air was so thick it felt like you could wring water out of it, and every breath carried a heavy, damp smell. She sniffed the air, her brow furrowed slightly. "I smell the miasma over there. It's faint, but deep down... there's a smell of corruption."

Wu Ye gave his equipment a final check. The potion bag at his waist was bulging, and the newly purchased animal repellent incense and sulfur powder were tucked outside his backpack. He stroked the brass compass hanging from his chest. The needle was trembling slightly and irregularly, as if sensing something. He looked up, his gaze piercing through the layers of green, reaching into the unknown shadows deep within the rainforest. "Let's go and see what this ancient eye tree is."

The moment I stepped onto the humid earth, it was like entering another world. The hustle and bustle of the port was completely cut off, leaving only the ubiquitous chirping of insects and birds, and the subtle crunch of wet, rotten leaves under my feet.

The light suddenly dimmed, and the humid air enveloped my skin, causing sweat to immediately seep out. Huge, plank-like tree roots, like the ribs of a giant dragon, lay exposed on the ground, covered in slippery moss. Vera walked in front, her javelin pointed diagonally ahead, her steps light and alert. Her Amazon warrior instincts made her the most reliable scout.

Leah followed closely behind, clutching a staff emitting a faint chill, serving both as a light and a medium for casting spells. Wu Ye brought up the rear. With a slight movement of his mind, the space around him rippled, and dozens of skeleton warriors, wielding rusted swords and shields, silently coalesced from the void. Their eye sockets pulsed with the faint blue flames of their souls, as they loyally flanked and reared their master. Skeleton Brother's tall frame silently followed Wu Ye, his hollow eye sockets scanning the surroundings, his knuckles resting on the hilt of the bone knife at his waist.

"Watch your step," Vera whispered, using her javelin to push aside a clump of thorny vines. "'Razor vine' has edges like saws, and wounds from being cut are difficult to heal." She pointed to some dark red spots on the vines. "That's blood, fresh."

The rainforest's terrain was far more complex than they had imagined. They had to constantly circumvent bottomless swamps, where glossy green algae floated on the surface, occasionally bubbling and emitting a foul stench. Huge rotten logs lay across the path, covered in colorful mushrooms and slippery fungi. Leah's ice crystals illuminated an area ahead. Several fist-sized beetles, each with compound eyes and sharp mouthparts, were startled by the light and scattered with a buzzing sound, disappearing into the darkness.

"Brother Wu, look at this!" Leah paused beside the aerial roots of a massive banyan tree and pointed at a patch of moss scraped from the trunk. On the exposed bark beneath was a scribbled arrow pointing west. Next to it was a faint wolf head imprint, identical to the emblem the bearded man had displayed.

"It's a mark left by the 'Gray Weasel' team!"

Vera squatted down and carefully examined the ground: "There is more than one mark. There are traces of dragging here... very heavy, more than one person." She pointed to a deep, irregular gully in the muddy ground and several broken pieces of leather armor scattered beside it.

"They were attacked here."

The atmosphere suddenly grew tense. The skeleton warriors silently dispersed, their rusted blades pointed at the dark corners around them. Skeleton Brother drew his bone knife, a dark blue soul fire burning steadily in his eye sockets. The brass compass needle in Wu Ye's hand began to spin faster, emitting a subtle humming sound.

“Rustle…rustle…rustle…”

A very slight scraping sound came from the dense fern bushes on the right, as if something was crawling quickly under the leaves. The sound was very dense, and there was more than one place.

"Enemy attack!" Vera shouted softly, and instantly raised his javelin, pointing it at the source of the sound.

Almost as soon as she finished speaking, several dark shadows suddenly shot out from the ferns! They were extremely fast, with a sound of breaking through the air, heading straight for the three people!

It's a blow dart!

Vera reacted with lightning speed, swiping her javelin across the air, precisely knocking away the two darts aimed at her and Leah. The arrows lodged themselves in a nearby tree trunk, their tail feathers still trembling violently, their tips blackened, evidently laced with poison. The skeleton warrior in front of Wu Ye raised his shield, dinging twice, blocking the poisoned arrows. The skeleton warrior then swung his body, his bone knife flashing with a cold flash, splitting the last dart in two mid-air.

"There!" Leah's reaction was a little slow, but the ice crystal had already lit up. A stream of cold air shot out in the direction of her finger, instantly freezing most of the fern bush. The frost spread, making a crisp "crackling" sound.

"Squeak!" A series of sharp, piercing hisses echoed, and several short, hunched figures emerged from behind the frozen ferns. Their skin was a sickly gray-green, covered in wrinkles and wart-like protrusions. Their heads were large, their eyes were cloudy yellow, and their mouths bared jagged fangs. In their hands, they wielded crude blowpipes and venom-coated bone daggers, and their bodies were adorned with crude ornaments made of animal bones and feathers.

“Flayers!” Valar recognized these predators, native to the humid lands. “Beware of their poison and blow darts! There are many!”

Sure enough, more rustling sounds echoed from all directions. In the dim light, countless pairs of turbid yellow eyes lit up from behind the bushes and vines, filled with greed and cruelty. They surged out like a tide, brandishing bone daggers and emitting teeth-grinding screams, pouncing from the ground and even from the low branches!

"Liya, Ice Ring!" Wu Ye ordered calmly, his mind urging him on. The skeleton warriors surrounding him immediately formed a defensive line, their rusted swords and shields meeting the oncoming Skinners.

Blades slashed against tough skin with a dull thud, and shields blocked swinging bone daggers with a sharp scraping sound. Like a ghost, the skeleton charged into the enemy group, bone knives flying, each swing leaving a trail of gray-green blood and limbs. Its movements were swift and precise, far surpassing those of ordinary skeletons, and it could even predictively block blowpipes fired from tricky angles.

"Ice Nova!" Leah screamed, pressing her hands fiercely to the ground. A piercing aura of ice erupted from her center, rapidly spreading outward! The dozen or so Skinners charging in the front were instantly frozen into ice sculptures, frozen in place in their attacking stances. The following monsters were also affected by the cold, their movements noticeably slowed.

Vera seized the opportunity, her javelin darting like a venomous snake unleashing from its lair! She didn't throw blindly, but rather precisely targeted the flayers who tried to circumvent the skeletons' defenses or hide in the shadows, piercing their darts. Each javelin shrieked through the air, piercing the monster's skull or heart with pinpoint accuracy. Her movements were fluid and deadly, the javelin coming to life in her hands, tossing, pulling back, and throwing again in a deadly storm of metal.

The battle erupted instantly and quickly reached a fever pitch. The skeleton warriors' defensive line seemed thin under the frenzied onslaught of the Skinners. Skeletons were constantly pierced by bone daggers or shot by poisonous arrows, their soul fires extinguished, and their skeletons scattered across the ground. But Wu Ye's summons continued, and new skeleton warriors constantly condensed from the void to fill the gaps.

Skeleton Brother is like a meat grinder on the battlefield, charging left and right among the enemy groups, and his bone knife is invincible. It can even take advantage of the surrounding environment, such as slamming into a rotten tree and letting the rotten trunk knock down a group of enemies.

Leah's ice spells are excellent for crowd control. Besides "Ice Nova," which freezes large groups of enemies, she also occasionally unleashes "Ice Storm," summoning sharp cones of ice to rain down from the sky, impaling even Barkers hiding in trees. If a foe slips through her defenses and gets close enough, she can unleash a "Fire Blast" just in time to send the monster flying.

But the flayers were too numerous and fearless. They exploited the rainforest's complex terrain and attacked from unexpected angles. One of them silently slid down from the vines hanging above, piercing the back of Leah's neck with its bone dagger!

"Be careful!" Vera caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of her eye, but the distance was too far to rescue him!

At this critical moment, the skeleton brother who had been silently guarding Wu Ye suddenly looked up. Instead of turning around, he swung his bone knife backwards! The knife transformed into a streak of white light, accurately piercing the attacker's head and pinning him to the nearby tree trunk! Leah turned back in shock, only to see the monster's twitching corpse and the bone knife nailed to the tree.

"Thank you...thank you!" Leah shouted to Skeleton Brother with lingering fear. Skeleton Brother just walked over silently, pulled out his bone knife, shook off the blood on it, and stood back beside Wu Ye as if nothing had happened.

The battle lasted for about a quarter of an hour, leaving the ground littered with the corpses of flayed men and scattered skeletons. The remaining flayed men, seemingly overwhelmed by the stubborn resistance and heavy casualties, let out a few unwilling roars and retreated like a tide, quickly disappearing into the depths of the dense rainforest, leaving behind only a mess and the thick smell of blood.

The three of them breathed a sigh of relief, standing back to back, keeping watch. Vera quickly checked her javelin bag, and Leah wiped the sweat from her forehead. The light of the ice crystals dimmed slightly. Wu Ye silently destroyed the skeletons that hadn't yet been completely destroyed, while summoning new ones. The blood from the skeleton's bone knife dripped onto the rotten leaves. Its empty eye sockets scanned the direction of the enemy's retreat, as if to confirm safety.

The glimmer of battle's conclusion flickered across the three men. Experience points trickled into their souls like a trickle. While the Skinners were merely common monsters from the outer reaches of the humid lands, their experience points weren't high, but their sheer numbers made for a considerable cumulative gain. Wu Ye could sense he was one step closer to reaching level 21. Leah and Vera also received corresponding upgrades.

"Something's dropped!" Leah pointed at the flickering light next to a skinner's corpse not far away.

Vera walked over and used the tip of her javelin to push aside the corpse. Scattered on the ground were a few gold coins, a crude white bone dagger, and a small vial of mild healing potion. She deftly gathered the gold coins and potion, discarding the bone dagger casually—this low-grade, white item was worthless.

Wu Ye's gaze swept across the battlefield, his mind shifting slightly. Scattered gold coins and shattered gems flew automatically into his backpack from the bodies of several flayers. Skeleton Brother, meanwhile, kicked out a blue-glowing blowgun from the body of a larger flayer.

"[Poison Blowgun] (White)" Vera picked it up and looked at the attributes. "+1 poison damage, better than nothing." She stuffed it into her spare bag.

What was even more surprising was that under the body of a Barker that was nailed to a tree by Leah's ice storm, there was a ring emitting a faint golden light!

"Gold suit!" Leah ran over excitedly and picked it up.

[Eye of the Flayer] (Gold Ring)

Requirement Level: 16

+5 Agility

+10-20 Poison Damage

+10% poison resistance

"This is good!" She handed it to Vera happily.

"These guys... are endless." Leah panted, looking at the ugly corpses on the ground. She felt a little nauseous, but the joy of harvest diluted the discomfort.

"They are just appetizers," Vera said solemnly, using his javelin to poke open the body of a flayed man, revealing a strange dark purple vine that had been trampled underneath. "Look at this."

A sticky, dark red liquid, like blood, oozed from the broken ends of the vine. Even more horrifying was the faint appearance of twisted, eye-like lines on the vine's skin!

"Eye vines!" Leah exclaimed, and immediately opened Old Jack's diary, comparing it with the charcoal drawings on it, "Exactly the same! They really exist! And... the vine itself seems to emit faint magical fluctuations?" She noticed that there was an extremely dim white light flashing at the broken end of the vine, as if it was made of some low-level material.

Wu Ye squatted down and touched his fingertips to the dark red liquid. It was thick and cold, with a faint smell of rust and decay. The brass compass needle in his hand was spinning wildly, almost jumping out of the glass cover.

"These vines... are alive?" Leah felt a chill as she looked at the vines that were still wriggling slightly at the broken end.

"I'm afraid they're more than just alive," Vera carefully lifted the vine with her javelin. "They seem to have some connection with these skinners... During the battle just now, I noticed some vines moving quietly, trying to wrap around our ankles. And..." She pointed to the "eye" patterns on the vines, "I feel like they're 'looking' at us."

Wu Ye stood up and gazed deeper into the rainforest. The light there grew dimmer, and a thick, ominous green mist began to fill the air. The stench of decay grew stronger. He put away his compass and spoke in a low voice:

"It seems we've found the right direction. The 'Eye' is right ahead. Everyone, brace yourself. The real trouble may have just begun."

The three of them rested briefly, tending to minor scrapes (primarily Leah's arm scratched by thorns, which Vera applied with the herbal ointment she carried) and replenishing their fluids. The skeleton warriors regrouped, with Skeleton Brother still silently guarding them.

They tread on the slippery, rotting leaves and the corpses of the skinners, continuing their journey deeper into the rainforest, where the mist shrouds the air and the "eyes" of the vines become increasingly distinct. The whispers of the humid earth seem like countless eyes peering from the shadows. In the unknown darkness ahead, perhaps even more powerful demons and deeper conspiracies are hidden...